And Now Joins IIT-Kharagpur in the IITs’ Suicide Club 2014

After IIT-Guwahati, it’s now IIT-Kharagpur’s turn to face the disgrace. The holi was no more colorful as an MTech student hung himself from the ceiling fan of his hostel room this Monday, 17th March. According to police, this is 21st instance within the duration of past 6 years when a campus student committed suicide.

Boga Shravan was 24 and was raised in Madan Mohan Malaviya Hall. He was hailed as a brilliant computer science student by IIT-Kgp staff.

The suicide was discovered when, Boga, who should have been with his friends celebrating Holi was found missing by his friends who went looking for him. Shrikant Ratula, president of the MMM Hall says, “He didn’t answer the door, so we tried to break the adjacent window. A small opening was made in the window and we found him hanging. We immediately informed the warden, who rushed to the hostel.”

The police have not received any suicide note as of now.

His hostel mates noticed a strange detachment of Boga from Facebook suddenly whereas he was a very socially active person in the previous year. This somewhat suggests Boga’s depression.

The authorities have taken a brilliant step that has never before taken care of- that of diagnosing the depression amongst students. More than 200 students are consulting psychologists and analysts that are staffed by the IIT-Kharagpur management.

An apparent reason behind suicides comes from a senior teacher of the material science department who says, “For four years, from classes IX to XII, kids are made to go to coaching centres and tutors like machines so they are able to crack IIT-JEE. They slog for more than 16 hours a day. When we get these students in the first year of BTech, they are completely drained and are not in a mental state to absorb any of the intensive teaching that happens in a specialized campus like IIT-Kgp. Their grades fall. In any given year, at least 30% of the students report failing grades and 10% drop out of the system. Naturally, they are depressed.”

Here we lose another disciplined and consistent performer who was a brilliant IITian. Let’s hope to witness a radical change in this new-built suicide culture and also, let’s vow to never take such a step.